Normal Is Boring, But Safe
by Andromeda Cinders
Summary: Max is alone, save for only one. Her son. Her little baby, the last of her Flock. Sixteen years later she and her son are living a "normal" life in a quiet town. But life's never easy for our favorite Avian-American. The dangers of her past and present are closing in on her and her son on all sides. And Maximum Ride won't go down lightly. Post-StWaOES. Fax.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Okay, this is AU. Nothing past _Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports_ happened. Because reasons.**

 _ **Maximum Ride**_ **belongs to James Patterson (He's not doing a good job with it).**

 _ **Transformers Prime**_ **belongs to Hasbro** _ **.**_

* * *

Rain fell from the darkened sky one dark summer night in Arizona. The downpour fell on darkened houses and silent cars. The entire world seemed asleep. Except one.

A lone woman walked through the deep forest in the direction of these houses. Her blonde-brown streaked hair was wet and matted to her head. She wore a very large and bulky windbreaker draped over her shoulders and tied around her neck by the sleeves. Underneath she wore a thick jacket, jeans and combat boots. She walked quietly through the forest, her boots splashing in puddles.

She walked until she came to the nearest house on the edge of the forest. The woman ascended the porch steps and knocked on the door. Lights came on inside and there was movement inside.

"Coming," A muffled voice said from inside. The woman heard the locks clicking in the door and the door opened. The person behind the door was a woman with dark tousled hair and chocolate brown eyes. The dark haired woman gasped, covering her mouth with her hand in shock. "...Max..."

"Hi Mom," Max smiled sadly. Her voice wavered and she choked up.

"Honey what happened?" Dr. Martinez asked, feeling her daughter about to break down. She pulled Max inside the warm house. Max managed to hold it together until she took off her boots and sat down on her mom's couch. When she did, she broke down sobbing. "Max, what happened?"

Max couldn't speak, only sobbed. Dr. Martinez hugged her daughter tightly, letting her sob on the older woman's shoulder. Once Max calmed down she asked again.

"Max...what happened?"

Max looks down and untied her windbreaker. The wet garment fell off her shoulders, revealing the her folded up fourteen foot wingspan on her back and a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"He's all I have left," Max whispered. Dr. Martinez looked confused for a second, before Max pulled the blanket down, revealing a small baby.

He was four months old at the most, with pale skin and scruffy black hair. Wrapped in at least five thin blankets, it was hard to see what he was wearing.

"...Max..." Dr. Martinez gasped. "When did this happen? What happened? Who is this?"

Max sniffed, and the baby shifted, whining in his blankets. He opened his eyes, revealing medium blue eyes. The baby boy looked up at the two women.

"He's my son, mine and Fang's. He's only four months old," Max replied she slowly disentangled her son from the blankets. Now Dr. Martinez could see her grandson's clothes. He wore a pair of baby jeans with the hems fraying, two shirts (one long, one short), a hoodie, a jacket, and a pair of tiny black baby shoes. Two large slits were in the back of his clothes, letting out two tiny black wings covered in fluffy down feathers.

"His name's Jack," Max said, "Jack Ride. Gazzy wanted to call him Jack Sparrow."

By now the baby boy was wide awake, looking around enthusiastically, taking in all of the surroundings. When he saw his grandma he giggled and waved his hands excitedly. Dr. Martinez smiled and tickled the baby under his chin. He squeaked a giggle and flailed his arms and legs.

"Max, why didn't you come to me sooner?" Dr. Martinez asked, looking back at her daughter with a sad face. "I could've helped you."

"We thought you might've been under surveillance," Max replied. "But...its all over now."

A few seconds passed before Dr. Martinez realized what Max was implying. She gasped and covered her mouth, eyes getting watery. Little Jack whined and fussed, tiny wings flapping. There was movement upstairs as a new voice called out,

"Mom? Is everything alright?"

There were footsteps on the stairs and a young girl about thirteen stumbled half asleep down the stairs. She looked more like Dr. Martinez than Max did, with long messy dark hair and soft brown eyes. When she saw her sister, the girl was wide awake.

"Max!" She cheered and ran over to hug her. Max accepted the hug, but pulled Jack closer so he wasn't hit by her sister's hug of death. Jack chirped happily and giggled at his aunt.

"Hey Ella," Max smiled. "How's my favorite sister?"

"Great," Ella replied, walking around the couch and sitting down. She finally spotted Jack and squealed in delight. "Awwwww~ He's so cute! What's his name? Did you adopt him Max? Where's the Flock?"

Max's mood dropped again and the atmosphere changed to one of sadness.

"Well..." Max said. "It started like this,"

* * *

 _-Flashback-_

 _Max slept soundly, Fang curled up facing her, their two bodies shielding the sleeping Jack from the warm wind. They rested in a circle with the rest of the Flock around the dying campfire. All eight mutants slept soundly, the summer air keeping them warm._

 _No one was on guard. Their worst mistake._

 _Several large trees fell in the distance, crashing and rocking the earth. The Flock all bolted awake, Jack letting out little wails. Max picked up her son and rocked him. She stood up, extending her wings to takeoff. The rest of the Flock was up in seconds._

 _"There's several Erasers heading our way," Angel said fearfully. "Jeb too."_

 _"That son of a-" Max began to curse, but remembered the crying baby in her arms. She weighed their options._

 _Option 1: Face the psychos and be captured or killed or,_

 _Option 2: Up and Away._

 _Option 2 it is._

 _"Alright, U &A guys, double time," Max ordered. "Grab your packs and scatter. Split up and meet up at the Hawk cave in two hours."_

 _Her order was met with resounding agreement and within minutes everyone was up and out. Hundreds of feet in the air, Max flew steadily, having put Jack in a baby harness made of an old backpack. Fang was a few yards to her left and Angel to a few yards her right. In the distance she saw the others in a tight "V" formation, wings flapping in sync._

 _"How'd they find us?" Fang asked. "We ditched them months ago."_

 _"I don't know," Max replied. "But we'll lose them again."_

 _Her mind was in overdrive, cranking out plans and theories and ideas._

 ** _"I'm sorry Max,"_** _The Voice said, popping into her head. **"The Erasers won't be the only one you're going to loose."**_

 _A loud screeching sound filled the air and explosions engulfed Fang and Angel. In the distance, a third explosion engulfed the rest of the Flock. Fang and Angel screeched as they were engulfed, their bodies decimated by the explosions and riddled with shrapnel._

 _"NO! FANG! ANGEL!" Max screamed and Jack wailed. The pieces of shrapnel that hadn't landed in Fang or Angel streaked past Max, slicing her cheek, ripping her pant legs and narrowly missed Jack's head. Max could only watch in slow motion as her loved ones fell to the ground below, the light already gone from their eyes._

 _Jack's wails brought the world back to perspective for Max and she heard a fourth screeching noise. She sped a great distance away, only to turn and see a missile explode where she'd just been._

 _"No," Max whispered, tears in her eyes as she rocked Jack. "Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total. No!"_

 _'Angel' Max sent her thoughts out as loud as she could. 'Angel please, are you there?'_

 _Silence, dead silence. Even unconscious, Angel could use limited telepathy, and Max hoped for even a small groan. Nothing came. Far below, she saw the School vehicles surround two craters. The scientists exited their vehicles and entered the crater. From the burnt ground they pulled out the remains._

 _The remains of her family. Max saw Angel's singed hair bow, the dyed strip of hair from Nudge's makeover in NYC, the tattered remains of Fang's shirt, the small corpse of Total._

 _Max stared in horror, until she realized she was descending, she'd forgotten to flap her wings, pushing down forcefully, she propelled herself upwards, streaking off toward her mother's house, the only place left._

 _-End Flashback-_

* * *

Ella and her mother stared in horror at Max's story. Max fell silent, there was nothing left to say, no more tears left to shed.

"What'll you do now?" Ella asked. Max looked down at Jack, who'd fallen asleep in his mother's arms.

"I...don't know."

* * *

 **Review if you liked, review if you don't. Review what you think.**

 **Also, the Transformers part will come in next chapter.**

 **Bye~**


	2. Chapter 2: 16 Years Later

**_~16 Years Later~_**

 _ **Max's P.O.V. (Because its not Maximum Ride without Max narrating)**_

Ugh, Friday mornings. Typically one of the better mornings, behind Saturday and Sunday morning, but not for me. Fridays usually meant that Jack would be home late from his shift at work...and...

Wait..I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's start off with my name, isn't Maximum Ride, at least, not to the public. I'm thirty-three now and my son Jack is sixteen and he's looking more like Fang everyday.

He's got slightly darker skin than Fang did, but his hair is shorter. His wings, also as black as Fang's, had grown to be at least thirteen and a half feet wide. He generally dressed plain Jane (or would it be plain John? Dunno, don't care), his outfit being a gray short sleeve t-shirt over a white long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. He's responsible and sarcastic (not as much as I am, but still) and a big brother character. But he's still clumsy and can blend in too much with the background, that made for plenty of games of "Hide-n-Seek" when he was younger.

I'd changed too though, I was now 5'9.5" and my wingspan was fifteen feet. I had straighter hair I'd kept dyed black, and blue eyes, colored contacts of course. It's better that I look like Jack's looks came from me, so I don't have to talk about the Flock, or Fang. I'd had years of nightmares after their deaths, and telling Jack when he'd asked brought a month worth of nightmares.

 _Beep Beep Beep Beep_

Ugh, there's the devil of the morning. Of all the things I hate about normal life, alarm clocks are in the top five, right below keeping my wings in, and my job.

Yeah, about my job, it's hell. I don't even know why, when I got that fake ID almost sixteen years ago, they'd decided to put the girl who grew up tortured in a cage with a fear of anything medical related, _in a hospital_ , ** _as a nurse._**

I'm surprised I haven't had a mental breakdown yet, but I've been going strong with it for sixteen years, so there's no backing out.

I groaned and pushed myself up out of my bed (yeah, a bed, I know right?), rolling my shoulders and wings to keep the joints loose. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a set of teal medical scrubs and pulled a yellow cardigan off the desk chair. I walked with my clothes to the shower and scrubbed myself down, making sure to get in the nooks and crannies of my wings. Stuff gets trapped there so easily and it's really hard to get all that crud out.

After my shower I got dressed, pulling my wings in tight and wrapping them in a thin layer of compression tape, enough to make them less noticeable, but not enough that I'd have trouble breathing. After brushing my hair and teeth, I walked into the kitchen, pulling out the cereal boxes. Even after sixteen years I still couldn't cook for crap, unless tofu counted.

I heard Jack beginning to wake up in his room down the hall. Namely, I heard him grunt and fall face first off the bed, dragging the sheets down with him. Within minutes my son walked into the room, still half asleep. His hair stuck up in all directions, like a tornado had gone through. He didn't have a shirt on, since he didn't like the feeling of the fabric between his wings when he slept, but he had his favorite pair of black pajama pants on.

"Morning Mom," He murmured, still half asleep. He rubbed his eyes, and walked straight into the fridge. "Ow."

"A ballerina dancer you are not," I teased. He rolled his eyes and poured himself a bowl. As he ate, he readjusted his wings and realigning the feathers. "Going with the others today?"

"As always," Jack replied, "Just a day in the life."

I saw the look in his eyes, his face, the war was stepping up, and Jack knew it would mean getting ignored.

"No," I said. Jack looked up from his cereal. I knew what was happening, he was feeling like he didn't matter again. And I refused to let that happen.

"What?"

"You're not going today," I undid the compression tape with a quick twist and I unfurled my wings. "Just me and you today. Spending the day like we're supposed to, where we're supposed to."

I pointed to the sky, burning a bright orange and red with the dawn. Jack's eyes lit up.

"Really?" Jack asked. "What about Arcee?"

Of course, how could I have forgotten about her? The transforming motorcycle/alien warrior would certainly overreact, not about the wings (we agreed not to tell then), but because I was being "helicopter mom" again. What can I say? I'm a mother bear if Jack's in danger.

"Tell her you're helping me at the hospital," I said. "I'll tell my boss you're sick and that I'm taking care of you."

Jack seemed to think it was a pretty good lie and smiled. He ran around to hug me.

"Thanks Mom," He said.

"No prob kiddo," I said. "Go get dressed and explain the situation to Arcee, I'll make the call."

Jack ran off to his room, wings whapping his shins as he went. I strutted to my room and changed into a brown tank top under a cream long sleeve shirt. I pulled on some pants and combat boots. I yanked on a leather jacket and took out my colored contacts. I walked into the bathroom and began washing out the hair dye, revealing my brown-blonde streaked hair. Finally, I was me again, just Max.

After I'd dried my hair and put it in a medium ponytail, I walked out to where the house phone sat in the kitchen. I dialed my boss's number and "explained" that Jack was sick and that I'd be staying home to take care of him. My boss believed it and gave me the day off.

Jack wandered in from the garage and I heard Arcee drive off.

"She bought it," He said. "Still hate lying to her though."

"Well, you can hate it later," I said. I jingled my keys. "C'mon, let's head out."

Yeah, I bet you're wondering why were not just propelling ourselves out of the nearest window. Well, on a small town where people talk and you've got a nosy gossip on one side of your house and a senile old man on the other, it's not a good idea.

We hopped into my Crown Victoria and left the street to its early morning silence. Jack shifted in his clothes.

Rather than wear his usual clothes he wore black combat boots, dark ripped jeans, tight dark gray t-shirt, and a black pullover hoodie. He hadn't bothered to comb his hair, so it still stuck out in all directions.

We drove for a good hour until I found our spot. It was a section of desert with half of it being rocky and good for working on dodging, while the other was wide open, perfect for doing what ever we liked. I killed the engine and we got out. After camouflaging the car, we climbed up one of the big cliffs.

"Remember to keep a steady beat," I reminded him. "Last time you fell ten feet before you regained any air."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack replied. He lifted himself up over the edge and rolled into a crouched position. "Why'd we climb up a fifty foot cliff again?"

I pulled myself up and stood next to Jack, who stood up too. "So we can fall off and get great air."

With that I pushed him off and threw myself over the side. Jack cheered and hollered as we descended in a wild freefall. We both snapped out our wings last second and pushed down hard, and we sped off at a decent 100 miles an hour. Today is gonna be a good day.

* * *

 **So how'd you like it? Review if you liked it, review if you didn't. Bye, and thanks for the support.**


	3. Chapter 3: San Francisc-Oh Crap!

**So Chapter 3 already. Nice. Also this has a little gore at the end, so be careful.**

 ** _Transformers Prime_ belongs to Hasbro.**

 ** _Maximum Ride_ belongs to James Patterson (*grumbling*)**

 **Also this takes place, hmm, about "Triage" but before "Toxicity"**

* * *

 ** _Jack's P.O.V._**

Mom and I soared high above the desert, the warm dry air glinting off our wings. I spun and dipped, weaving in and out of the rock pillars that dotted the landscape. Mom sped around the clouds above, dipping and corkscrewing as she went. I pushed down, pulling out of a sharp turn and jetting up to where Mom was.

"So what're we doing today," I asked. Mom thought for a moment, pushing a piece of brown-blonde out of her face. It was still so weird seeing her without the black hair and blue eyes I'd grown up with seeing her in. We hovered there, wings flapping in unison.

"How about a trip to San Francisco? Or maybe we could visit your Grandma?" She said. Now it was my turn to think for a second.

"San Francisco," I replied. "Grandma is at that Vet Expo there anyway."

Mom smiled. "Okay then, let's head back to the house to grab some food for the flight over and we'll head out."

I always love when Mom and I took trips, it always made me feel like I'm not hiding anymore. Like I'm not having to pretend that I'm no one special. I can be who I am, who I was supposed to be. It made me think of Dad, and what he would've thought of me. On trips, I can see so many different walks of life, different people, different places, it's so amazing.

I angled my wings down and we descended into a corkscrew. I landed with a thump, my combat boots spraying gravel and dirt from the impact. I rolled my shoulders and pulled my wings in tight, feeling the heat from the muscles on my skin. Mom landed beside me with a skid. We readjusted our clothes so they hid our wings. We uncovered the car and drove off.

When we got home I ran in and grabbed my black backpack, not my school one, but the one I saved for trips like this. I'd had it hidden under my bed, on the off chance Miko or Raf ever came over. Inside was a few dollars, maybe fifty, a first aid kit, a phone charger, a change of clothes, and a few granola bars. I slung it over my shoulder and walked into the kitchen. I opened up the cupboards and grabbed more granola bars, a few bottles of water, some dried apple slices, and a few bags of chips. What can I say? Bird kids have big appetites.

"Jack, you ready yet?" Mom called from the garage.

"Yeah!" I called back. I slung the bag over my shoulder and jogged out. Mom restarted the car and we drove back to our flying area. I unfurled my wings and adjusted the backpack so I could move my wings and still have the backpack nestled in between my wings. Mom got out and adjusted her own backpack.

"Heh, even with out backpacks we probably only weigh 120 pounds," Mom snickered. It was true, without my backpack I was a hundred pounds at the it's a miracle none of the Bots had ever commented on it.

"Yeah, we actually have a somewhat normal weight now," I replied. We both laughed and got a good running start and pushed off, soaring high with a decent wind under us.

* * *

Four and a half hours and almost four hundred and fifty miles later, we touched down two miles outside the city limits.

"Wow," I breathed. I'd never seen San Francisco before. The noon sun glinted off the Golden Gate Bridge and the waters of the Bay. We trekked across the Bridge and around to one of the expo centers, all the while doing 360s every once and a while.

"First really big city visit in a few years," Mom remarked. "Best to stay vigilant."

She was right I guess. Mom had told me about the Erasers, how horrible they were. Before meeting the Bots we'd train and spar every once and a while, but when Mom found out about them, we stepped it up. Nearly every night we were training, away from Arcee's watchful optics.

We walked through the crowded streets and we could see the expo center's roof glinting in the sunlight.

"Max!" A female voice yelled. Mom stumbled and staggered as someone flung themselves at her. The person was a twenty-eight year old Hispanic woman with black hair and brown eyes.

"Aunt Ella?" I gaped. I hadn't expected her to be here. Aunt Ella saw me and squealed, hugging me in a death grip.

"Jack! It's so good to see you!" She cheered. "What're you two doing here?"

"We needed a "mental health day," so we decided to come here," Mom said. Aunt Ella let me go and I took a deep breath. For a pro soccer player, she had some killer arm strength.

"You here with your team?" I asked. Aunt Ella nodded.

"Heck yeah, we're playing later tonight!"

"Max? Jack?" Another new voice asked. The three of us turned to see a new woman standing up on the top of the stairs leading to the expo center. She had long black hair with gray streaks tied back in a low ponytail. Her brown eyes reflected the surprise on her face. She wore a white shirt under a purple cardigan with dark blue jeans and black flats.

"Mom!" Mom said, the two ran to each other, meeting halfway and hugging each other tightly.

"Max," Grandma said, smiling. "Its been so long since I've seen you. And Jack..."

She turned to me, and hugged me tightly, then held me at arms length and smiled. "You've grown so tall!"

"Thanks Grandma," I said, smiling awkwardly. I was in middle school last time I saw Grandma and Aunt Ella. Mom smiled, a part of the family was together again.

* * *

We hung out with Grandma and Aunt Ella for a few hours but parted ways when Grandma had to go back to the convention and Aunt Ella had to go to practice. Mom and I walked around for a while, until I saw something.

A tall male model who looked no older than his mid-twenties stood with a group of several other men who looked eerily similar to him next to a group of sleek black Hummers. The group seemed more fit for Hollywood or Beverly Hills than San Francisco. They looked around casually, until they spotted me and Mom. My eyes widened as I realized who was watching me, I'd been told stories about them as kids, they haunted my nightmares, and they were the reason I never trusted models.

"Mom," I grabbed the sleeve of her leather jacket sharply. "45 degrees to you left. About five of 'em."

Mom's eyes widened.

"Act casual. We'll slip into the Civic Station," She said. We walked calmly, but with a slightly quicker pace than before. The models noticed us and began to follow calmly, strutting like they would on the runway. The Hummers roared to life and peeled out, following us at a slow pace. The original five were joined by three more, then two more. My heart pounded in my ears; I hadn't been this scared since that Insecticon and that hoard of Scraplets attacked me at Vector Sigma. "Change of plans, duck into the nearest alleyway and jet."

I nodded, but my knees trembled. I was facing what had been my nightmares for years, what Mom faced for the first seventeen years of her life, something we'd hoped was burning in the darkest pits of Hell.

 _Erasers._

We found an alley and ducked in, only to look up and see the way blocked by a large overhang and dozens of stupid decorations. We spun around, frantically searching for a way out. I looked down. The sewers! Gross, but it would work.

"Mom, underneath," I said, tossing the manhole cover aside with ease. Mom nudged me down as the Erasers turned the corner. No time for ladders, I slipped through the hole and fell into a combat role. Mom slid in, pulling the lid with her.

"Let's head to the sea," Mom said. "Quick getaway."

I nodded. We ran through the stench and grime, sliding every once and a while. The maze of darkness went on for eternity, until we saw the light through the storm grate at the end. Home free!

No, oh no.

Several Erasers spilled in from one of the tunnels intersecting ours, blocking the path. I could hear more behind us. They were ushering us into a trap, I knew it, but we had no choice.

"Run!" Mom yelled, pushing me down the clear tunnel. We ran down the tunnel, but skidded to a stop. At least twenty Erasers surrounded us, not really armed, but well trained.

"Jack," Mom breathed, looking up. I followed her gaze. With my enhanced vision, I saw garrote wire weaved over our heads in a fine net. We were trapped. "Time to fight."

All hell broke loose. Erasers charged at us, morphing into the ugliness that I'd only ever imagined. I grabbed a discarded metal pipe and swung it at the first Eraser. I felt his skull give and he crumpled with a scream. I kicked at another Eraser, nailing him in the groin. He collapsed with a wheeze, and a swift blow with the pipe rendered him down for the count.

Two Erasers charged at me at once and slashed. One hand got my arm, ripping my hoodie and shirt, sending red blood spilling out. I yelled as the raw pain shot through my right side. I responded with a roundhouse kick to the windpipe to the one, sending him flying. I spun to face the other one and grabbed his arm, and Judo flipped him, wincing as I heard his skull crack on the concrete.

The fight then began to go faster than I could comprehend. It was nothing but blurs, screams, claws and the smell of blood leaking into the sewer air. Before I knew it, it was over. All the Erasers laid dead, dying, or unconscious around us.

"This way," Mom said, pulling my on my injured right arm. I hissed at the pain, but powered through it. As we ran again through the dimly lit tunnels, I took stock of all my injuries.

Including my right arm, I also had a long set of bleeding scratches on my face, along with a black eye. My left thigh had three long horizontal claw marks on it, and my knuckles and nose were bloody.

"What's the plan?" I asked as we passed another ladder to the topside world.

"Get as far away as possible and jet as fast as we can," Mom said. Before I could say anything else, I heard a familiar sound. Blaster fire.

 _Oh shit._

Of all the places in the world, why did it have to be San Francisco?

We rounded the corner, only to have to dive out of the way to avoid a falling Vehicon.

"Bee!" I heard Bulkhead yell. I hopped out to see Bumblebee being shocked, falling to the ground with a metallic screech. His optics dimmed and he was out. But rather than Vehicons surrounding him, ERASERS surrounded him. The lead grunted something to another, who tried to zap Bulkhead and missed.

I was about to rush in to help the Bots when I heard another scream. My head shot to the side, where I saw Miko and Raf cornered by three Erasers. Not them, those demons won't get them.

"Mom, hand me the hatchet," I said. She pulled said weapon from her bag and I grabbed it, hopping around the corner and speeding toward them.

"I don't wanna die," I heard Raf whimper.

My blood boiled and I saw red. Any form of self control I had was gone in a snap. I let out a horrid battle screech and jumped, knocking the first Eraser down with a flying roundhouse kick. The Eraser went flying, knocking down the three that were fighting Arcee. The other two looked at me with an evil glint, the others were appetizers, I was the main course. I growled and lunged, kicking one in the throat and hitting the other on the side of the head with the blunt side of the hatchet. The two recovered and extened their claws. I snarled and flipped the hatchet in my grip. The one ran at me and sliced at my side, catching a bit of skin and spraying my blood to the floor. I heard Miko scream again, Raf crying out in shock.

I turned and in a flash, I'd wedged the hatchet blade halfway through the Eraser's neck. He fell to the floor, dead. The second one ran from behind me, grabbing my head and slamming me into the wall. The world seemed to spin, but righted itself just in time for me to imbed the hatchet in the oncoming Eraser's skull. The hulking mutant dropped dead.

"Jack!?" I heard Raf squeak in alarm.

"What are you...h-how..." Miko couldn't finish. I took charge and turned to them, whipping out my wings. No more sense in hiding them, my hoodie was mostly strips by now anyway. The two gawked and backed away.

"Raf, Miko, get back to the Groundbridge," I ordered. Another Eraser tackled me, pinning me to the floor. I held his open maw in my hands, preventing him from biting my head. "NOW!"

The two nodded and ran off. I heard a Groundbridge charging up and I slit the throat of the Eraser above me. If there was one thing Mom had taught me about fighting an Eraser, its Kill or Be Killed. I tossed the body off of me and pushed off, speeding around the top of the cavernous tunnel. I kicked any Erasers I could over the edge. They fell, hitting the pavement with a sick _**CRACK**_ **.** The few Erasers who tried to shoot at me were swiftly killed. I saw Mom speed by, taking out Erasers on the ground with ease (and a machete) darting in and out between our Cybertronian friends' legs so fast I could hardly see her. The wolf hybrids fell with screams as not only Mom, but Arcee and Bulkhead smashed and slashed at them.

I landed with a skid, preparing my hatchet for another assault, when I heard a darkly warm voice behind me,

"Hello Jack, it's so good to finally meet you."

I felt a pinch in my neck and my world began to fade. I heard Mom call my name and I felt the ground shake from Bulkhead running, but I hit the ground and darkness consumed me before I could see any more.

* * *

 **So...that's a thing. Pretty dark. Sorry about the gore. As with the last two chapters,**

 **Review if you like, review if you don't, review anything about the story (speculations, reactions, anything).**

 **Thank you guys so much for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Other Side of the Coin

**Hey guys, thanks for all the support.**

 **Also thank you Cashagon for pointing out my continuity error. I'd forgotten that those episodes ran together. So this could be placed sometime after "Operation: Bumblebee Part II".**

 _ **Transformers Prime**_ **belongs to Hasbro.**

 _ **Maximum**_ **Ride** **belongs to James Patterson.**

Also, " **This"** , is Bumblebee talking

* * *

 _ **Hours Before**_

Miko sat in the human area of the base with Raf. Arcee had rode in to base a while a go, but without Jack. When she was asked, the two-wheeler said that Jack was helping June at the hospital today. Miko thought it was strange, but she let it go, she could tell the bots weren't in the mood for her commentary.

Now she sat on the couch, going through conspiracy websites with Raf, while also reading a blog that she'd come across for fun.

The blog itself was good, despite having been started during the early 90s. While Miko expected a teenage girl talking about her crushes and celebrities and fashion, she was surprised to learn it wasn't even remotely close to that at all. It was started by a fourteen-year-old boy going by the name of Fang. Miko got really interested when she found out that was his real name too, and she read on to discover horrible things.

Fang had grown up with five other kids: Max, Iggy, Nudge, The Gasman (Or "Gazzy"), and Angel, in a torturous hell called "The School", which had genetically modified them before they were born. The result was a group of kids with _wings,_ if that wasn't cool enough, they escaped and were on the run for years, acquiring a talking dog named Total along the way. They flew all over the country, going to places like NYC and Hollywood and many places in between.

 _...The Flock and I are pretty much living with Anne now, going to school with normal kids blah, blah, blah. Max doesn't like it, but she doesn't trust Anne, or anyone outside of us. She barely trusted the doctors that saved me from bleeding out a few weeks back. We still haven't made any progress on the packet of encoded info we got from the Institute of Higher Living, the younger kids are getting restless in the search. How do you normal kids stand this stuff for your entire lives? Max is calling, dinnertime._

 _Fly on,_

 _Fang_

Miko read on for several hours, through three years of Fang and the Flock's adventures. She nearly squealed in excitement when, towards the end, she read that Fang and Max had a baby boy Fang gave the blog name "Jay". Later on, Fang uploaded a picture of Jay, a two month old baby boy with raven black hair, blue eyes and fluffy black wings, being held by Max, a woman with blonde-brown streaked hair and chocolate eyes. Miko thought both Max and Jay looked familiar, but she brushed it off when Ratchet announced that he'd detected energon underneath San Francisco. Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead prepped to go out.

"Can we go with you?" Miko asked. "Please, we won't get in your way."

"...Okay," Arcee said. "But you do as we say. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Sweet!"

* * *

"Ugh, he never mentioned it was in the sewers," Miko gagged, wrinkling at her nose at the smell. Her and Raf sat on their guardians' shoulders as the group walked through the sewers.

"Its better than a subway," Bulkhead said.

 **"Yeah,"** Bee beeped. **"Less chance of being discovered."**

They eventually arrived in a large room that seemed so out of place in the sewers. Half had dirt walls, the other had stone. Several large chunks of energon stuck out of the dirt.

"Primus..." Arcee gasped. "That's a lot of energon."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee set Miko and Raf on the ground, and the two mechs joined the femme in harvesting the life giving crystals.

The children sat down on a rock and began talking.

"What do you think Jack is doing now?" Raf wondered. Miko shrugged.

"Scrubbing bedpans?"

"Or talking with old ladies." The two snickered.

"Getting his cheeks pinched by old ladies!"

The two went back and forth until they heard other Cybertronians approaching. Before they could warn the Bots, a squadron of Vehicons burst in, shooting at the Bots and nearly hitting the remains of the energon.

"Scrap!" Bulkhead yelled. He turned his servos into wrecking balls and began to smash the Vehicons. Raf dragged Miko behind a taller rock just as Arcee kicked one into the spot where they'd been standing. Bumblebee began blasting the Vehicons one by one. The battle seemed to be going like normal, until a loud wolf howl was heard through the opening. Everyone stopped, even the Vehicons. They all turned toward the opening.

Countless horrible creatures burst through. They had matted fur and red eyes, and wore the tattered remains of what had once been business suits. Several held assault rifles, but most had their long, horrid claws. The creatures wanted no time in rushing forward, attacking Bots and Vehicons alike, hissing when energon (from the Vehicons) hit their skin.

The humans stood horrified as the monsters attacked their alien friends and before the two kids knew it, they were surrounded by three monsters. Miko let out a scream and Raf whimpered, "I don't want to die."

Someone let out a horrid battle screech and knocked the beast away with a flying roundhouse kick. The beast went flying, knocking down the three that were fighting Arcee.

The boy had windblown raven hair and pale skin. He wore a tattered black pullover hoodie, dark blue ripped pants and black combat boots. His right arm had long claw marks, a long set of bleeding scratches on his face, along with a black eye. His left thigh had three long horizontal claw marks on it, knuckles and nose were bloody and he had several bruises.

He growled and lunged, kicking one in the throat and hitting the other on the side of the head with the blunt side of the hatchet. The two recovered and extened their claws. The boy snarled and flipped the hatchet in his grip. The one ran at him and sliced at his side, catching a bit of skin and spraying his blood to the floor. Miko screamed again and Raf cried out in shock.

He turned and in a flash, he'd wedged the hatchet blade halfway through the beast's neck. It fell to the floor, dead. The second one ran from behind him, grabbing his head and slamming him into the wall. The boy staggered, but righted himself just in time to imbed the hatchet in the oncoming beast's skull. The hulking mutant dropped dead. The boy turned to then and they knew instantly who he was.

"Jack!?" Raf squeaked in alarm.

"What are you...h-how..." Miko couldn't finish. Jack took charge and turned to them, whipping out my wings, thirteen and a half feet wide with pure black feathers. The two gawked and backed away.

"Raf, Miko, get back to the Groundbridge," Jack ordered. Another beast tackled him pinning him to the floor. Jack held the open maw in my hands, preventing it from biting his head. "NOW!"

They ran, narrowly avoiding the other beasts. As they ran through the sewers, a Groundbridge swirled into existence and Optimus ran through.

"Get back to base as fast as you can," He said, before running towards the battle. The two nodded and ran as fast as their legs could go. Within seconds they were in the base, and ran up the catwalk to where Ratchet was. The red and white medic cursed in Cybertronian as he ran over the bio signs of each member, growling when the screen read out Bumblebee's unconcious state.

There was a lot of blaster fire over the comm link and someone female screamed something they couldn't make out. The comm went silent and for a few seconds they feared the worst. Until there was the sound of three sets of pedes crossing into the base.

Optimus, Arcee, and Bulkhead walked through the GroundBridge, helms lowered.

"Where's Bee?" Raf asked, worried for his friend. Optimus frowned sadly.

"Bumblebee, along with a human of unknown identity, have been captured by the hybrids that attacked you," Optimus reported sadly. "Though the human was not alone."

He held out his servos to reveal what he'd been gently holding. A female human who was about thirty-three years old with tanned skin, wavy brown-blonde streaked hair in a ponytail, brown short leather jacket with a long neck, cream shirt and brown undershirt, torn blue jeans, and brown combat boots. Her flesh was marred with cuts and claw marks, several large bruises discolored her body and face, and a large cut marred her forehead. As if she couldn't get any stranger, she sported a fifteen foot wingspan with a beautiful mixture of browns, creams, and whites. A lone backpack was wedged between her and the Autobot's servos and in her hand she held a bloody machete.

"Ohmygod," Miko gasped, looking away.

"We need to call June," Ratchet said, switching to full on CMO. "Lay her on that stretcher over there. Raf, Miko, get something to support her...wings."

Optimus laid the woman gently on the stretcher as the two young children rolled over carts to support her wings. Miko gently tugged the woman's backpack off and set it next to her.

"What are we gonna do about Bee?" Bulkhead asked. "Those monsters grabbed him and that human for a reason."

"Maybe she knows," Arcee said pointedly, gesturing to the woman. A small ring stopped any conversation in the base, as everyone turned to the woman's backpack. Raf inched over and pulled out the phone, dropping it when he looked at the caller ID.

"It's the comm link number," He squeaked. The woman groaned and sat up, holding her head in her hand and pulling her wings in.

"Ugh, how'd I get here?" She looked over at the Bots, revealing chocolate brown eyes. The entire group gaped, as it was June's voice coming out of the woman's mouth. "Why are you all looking at me so weirdly?"

She gasped. "Arcee, where's Jack!?"

* * *

 **Well that was a twist wasn't it?**

 **Review if you liked it, review if you didn't. I love hearing from you guys.**

 **Thanks for all the support.**


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